Plans to Organize "Sub-IP" Technologies in the IETF

Two weeks ago I sent a message informing the community of some plans to improve the organization of some significant work going on in the IETF on "sub-ip" technologies.

This potential re-organization affects a number of existing and proposed working groups, including MPLS, IPO, TE, IoPTR, CEOT, and PPVPN (previously NBVPN). Others may be added, or some removed, as the scope and direction solidify. It also proposes the creation of an additional working group, previously known as "CoMa" and renamed to "CCAMP" (see below) to unify the architecture and protocol work for the control and measurement plane.

This note is to bring you up to date on where we stand on the planning and logistics for these efforts. The process is ongoing and the details and implications will become more clear over the next week. The IESG will of course be open to community input on the scope and direction of the work in the various groups and will fine tune the WG charters as appropriate.

Here are some specific points we would like to emphasize.

while a number of proposed WG charters (and re-charters) are out for community review, none of them has been completely finalized, nor has mapping of various drafts to working groups been completed. It is particularly important to note that at least one of the new proposed charters (MPLS) was accidentally and prematurely posted on the IETF web page. We emphasize that this is *not* necessarily the final charter; a number of questions of scope and milestones are still open and it is possible that some fine tuning of charter is still needed.

Chairs are not finalized for all of the working groups and there are likely to be some reshufflings. Also, we have not selected chairs for the proposed CCAMP working group. In the interim the WG will be chaired by two area directors. The IESG is aggressively looking at candidates and we expect to have permanent chairs well soon after the after San Diego, but in any case well before the Minneapolis meeting.

The effort crosses a number of existing IETF areas. We are therefore going to form a "directorate", consisting of the IESG area directors of the affected areas (OPS, RTG, INT, TSV), and the chairs of the affected working groups and BoFs. This group will have an initial meeting on Sunday night before the IETF in San Diego. As are other directorates, this is not an open group, and exists to advise the area directors as opposed to doing technical work which as always goes on in the working groups.

We have received feedback that the selection of the acronym "CoMA" for the Control and Measurement work was perhaps unfortunate, as it brought the metaphor of "going to sleep" into prominence. We therefore propose instead the acronym "CCAMP", to stand for "Common Control and Measurement Protocols".

While we appreciate the desire for authors of internet drafts to be able to target their efforts and attention to a specific working group, we do not believe we have full enough community consensus on the architectural boundaries and direction to do so at this moment. Therefore, assignment of Internet Drafts to Working Groups will happen after the San Diego meeting with input from WGs and community. It is likely of course, that some drafts will not be progressed, or be combined with others during this process. For now we are asking the existing chairs of the WGs and BOFs to make up their agendas and provide time to discuss the IDs as they planned.

The Monday 9:00-11:30 MPLS WG meeting slot will be subdivided into two slots. The first hour will be a joint session of the MPLS WG and a CCAMP Bof, to be chaired by the interim CCAMP chairs. There will be one agenda item for this meeting slot - to discuss the proposed scope and architectural direction for the control and measurement plane work and solicit feedback and ideas from the community. We encourage all WG members with an interest in the overall architecture and direction of the control and measurement plane work to attend. From 10:00-11:30, the MPLS Working Group, chaired by its current chairs, will have its normal meeting, discussing those drafts which continue to be in its purview.

More to come as we move forward. Stay tuned. Feedback is solicited and welcome, either through the working group mailing lists (yes we are reading the lists) or directly to the IESG if you deem appropriate.